Family is important. One of the questions on people’s mind when planning to migrate to NZ is “Can I bring my family?” “What visa can I support?” The answer is Yes, you can bring your family even your girlfriend or boyfriend. Before I discuss that, how does INZ define family. Because what is the standard definition of family in your country may or may not apply here.
Definition of family
To NZ, family is made up of at least one of these two categories.
- Dependent children and/or
- Partnership
Let’s explore the easy one first.
DEPENDENT CHILDREN
These are your children (biological or adopted).
INZ defines dependent children based on their age and the type of visa they apply for so whether it’s resident visa or temporary visa. They are not eligible for work visa.
For resident visa holders, your child is dependent if they are:
- 24 and under, and
- single.
If they are 18 or over, they must not have children of their own.
If they are aged 21 to 24 they must also rely on you or another adult for financial support (depending on which visa they have applied for).
For temporary visa, your child’s dependent status will depend on the level of study visa they will require
Primary or secondary students’ visas and visitor visas, your child is dependent if they:
- are 19 and under
- are single, and
- rely on you for financial support.
If they are 18 or 19 they must not have children of their own.
If they are 20 or older:
- you cannot include them in your application for a visitor or student visa.
- they cannot apply for a visitor or student visa based on their relationship with you unless they meet requirements for a tertiary student visa.
They need to apply for their own visa, if they want to join you in New Zealand.
Tertiary student visas
Your child may be able to study as a dependent child at tertiary level if they:
- live in New Zealand
- were aged between 17 and 25 on 1 January 2022, and
- totally or substantially depend on you for financial support.
- is the dependent child of a person who is likely to be eligible for a 2021 Resident Visa.
For more information about requirements and how to apply for visas for your dependent child, read more here
Your dependent children can apply for a visa by either:
- You are including them in your visa application, or
- they apply for their own visas based on their relationship to you but only if you:
- already have a visa
- are applying for a visa, or
- are a New Zealand citizen or resident.
Now to the slightly complex one,
PARTNERSHIP
INZ defines partnership as a couple who live together in a genuine and stable relationship in any of the following ways:
- A legal marriage
- A civil union: like traditional marriage
- A de facto relationship. A de factor relationship is a relationship between two people who usually live together as a couple, like a marriage or civil union. They are not married or in a civil union with each other. Simply put, a couple that is cohabiting so, that you boyfriend or girlfriend you are cohabiting is counted as partnership.
Very cool however, it must be GENUINE that is it has to be entered into on a long-term and exclusive basis, not philandering. AND STABLE. Meaning, it is likely to continue for a long time. And you must be able to prove this. How? LIVING TOGETHER.
Living together means sharing the same home as your partner. Not having your own individual house and visiting each other frequently, you need to live together. I hear a minimum of one year is common. This also does not include living as flatmates in the same house.
If your partner is an NZ citizen or already holds an NZ visa, he or she becomes your supporting partner. You and your supporting partner must:
- be aged 18 or over or have the consent of your parents or guardians if you are aged 16 or 17 (interesting! No child of mine! I digress)
- have met each other before applying for a visa based on your partnership.
- not be close relatives.
For culturally arranged marriage, like what I will be going into if this man doesn’t propose soon, the rules are different. You will first need to apply for a Culturally Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa to either come to NZ after getting married via traditional arranged marriage or to come to NZ and get married. This will give you a 3 month visitor visa to begin living with your partner. After that, you can apply for a partnership visa.
I won’t go into much details but you can read more about it here. There is evidence you will need to provide to prove your partnership. More info here. If you have not always lived together, they will need to know the reasons you were living apart, how long you were living apart, and how you kept in touch while you were not living together. The photo below shows how they will assess your partnership. That’s all the intricacies involved in family business.
Dependent child and spouse visa
There are about three visas available that you can use to bring your children to New Zealand but this will depend on if you will be studying or working in New Zealand, or the visa your spouse is eligible for as well as if your child will have to study in New Zealand.
If your dependent child is over 5 years old, it means that child is of school age in NZ and . You can support a visa for that your child if you have an appropriate work or student visa, or your spouse has an eligible work visa. This visa is called Dependent Child Student Visa.
The key benefit of this visa is that you won’t have to pay tuition fees for your child or children to go to school because the dependent child will be treated as a domestic student. In simple terms they will attend school for FREE.
If your child is under 5 years, you can apply for a visitor visa for them. The type of visitor visa will depend on the type of visa you hold. If you have a student visa, you will be applying for the “Child of a Student Visitor Visa” while eligible work visa holders will apply for “Child of a Worker Visitor Visa”.
Same thing applies for children over 5-19 year that won’t be studying in NZ for more than 3 months. The visa duration for all three cases will be the same as your work or student visa.
According to how INZ defines partnership, you can also bring your spouse and even your girlfriend or boyfriend to New Zealand. The type of visa you will apply for your partner will again depend on you, the visa holder. If you have a student visa, then watch this video and if you have a work visa, this other video should be helpful. From both videos you should know, 1: if you’re eligible and 2. The type of visa you’re eligible for.
Bringing family if you have a work visa
If you hold a New Zealand work visa, what kind of visa can you support your family? Are you even eligible to bring your family? Here’s all the info from INZ that you need to know about bringing your family if you have a New Zealand work visa. Skip to the next section, if you are New Zealand student visa holder.
You can bring your dependent children and partner through the following visas. For your children, you can bring them on either a visitor visa or a student visa as described above. With the child of a worker visitor visa, your child can visit you in New Zealand. They can’t work though but they can study for up to 3 months in any calender year. If you want your child to study for more than 3 months, then they’ll need a student visa which means you will have to apply for the Dependent Child Student Visa.
Education is free NZ so your kids can attend Primary, Intermediate or Secondary school for free unless you place them in private schools or certain state-integrated schools. Also, be prepared to pay for school uniforms, stationery etc. A dependent child student visa holder can work in New Zealand but there are terms and conditions around that.
One last thing, there is a minimum annual income you must earn to support a student or visitor visa for your dependent child. The children’s visas are pretty straightforward not too many requirements. It’s the partner visas that have more requirements, but INZ is also clear on those requirements. Unto the Partner visas.
Firstly, there are two types of visas you can apply for, Partner of a worker work visa and Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa. Both depend on how much you earn. The current median wage rate is used to set these conditions and that rate is $29.66/h
If you earn below the median wage, then you cannot support your partner for a work visa. But you can support a Visitor Visa for your partner. One thing you must note is that your partner cannot work on that visitor visa. But, just like a standard visitor visa, they can study for up to 3 months. They can travel in and out as many times are they like b4 the visa expires.
To support a work visa for your partner, you need to earn at least the median wage, or your role is on the green list, and you also earn at least the median wage then you can support your partner for a work visa. If you don’t know what green list role is, watch this video and check immigration New Zealand website.
When you hold an Accredited Employer Work visa, which is the main temporary work visa in NZ by the way, the work visa you will support for your partner will either be an open work visa or work visa with conditions. Some of the changes came into effect in May this year. With an open work visa, you partner can work for any employer without needing to meet any pay requirements.
If you earn at least twice the median wage, OR your role is on the Green List, you meet the green list role’s requirements, and you earn at least the median wage, then they may approve an open work visa for your partner. Otherwise, it’s going to be work visa with conditions. But even with that, you need to earn at least the median but less than twice the median wage.
The conditions set restricts self-employment, sets who you can work for and minimum wage threshold when you work in certain sectors. If in the future you get a pay rise or your role gets included in green list, then your partner visa options changes of course depending on their visa status.
In summary, as an NZ work visa holder, you can support:
• a work visa for your partner
• a visitor visa for your partner or your children
• a student visa for your children
Not every New Zealand work visa holder can support visas for their family. If you hold any of these visas, then you cannot support work, visitor or student visas for your family.
• a Fishing Crew Work Visa
• a Working Holiday visa
• a limited visa under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) or Supplementary Seasonal Employer (SSE) schemes
• a Silver Fern Job Search Visa
• a Domestic Staff of a Diplomat Work Visa.
Their visa will be the same length as yours.
Bringing family if you have a student visa
Students can support visas for their partners and children but the type of visa they can support will depend on the qualification they are studying for.
Whether you are applying for visitor, work or student visa the duration of their visa will be the same as your student visa. So, here’s all info from INZ that you need to know about bringing your family if you have a New Zealand student visa.
All students can support visitor visas for their partners and children. They can visit you while you are studying in NZ. For children, it will be child of a student visitor visa. For partners, it will be Partner of a Student Visitor Visa. Where conditions come in is when you are looking to apply for a work visa for your partner or student visa for your dependent child.
Work visa will allow your spouse to work in any occupation and for any employer in New Zealand while student visa will allow your dependent child to study at any primary or secondary school in New Zealand. The work visa is called partner of a student work visa and you don’t need to have a New Zealand job offer to apply while the student visa is called Dependent child student visa and your child will study as a domestic students like I mentioned in this other video so check it out.
However, your dependent child will be eligible for this student visa only if you on the student visa and
• is enrolled in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme in a New Zealand university, so be a PhD student, or
• is in New Zealand for an approved student exchange scheme, or
• has a New Zealand Aid Programme Scholarship (excluding Short-term Training Scholarships and English Language Training for Officials Scholarships).
If you meet this condition, you can also apply for a work visa for your partner. But, if you don’t meet this condition and you are studying any level 9 or 10 qualification, or an eligible level 7 or 8 qualification (this just mean any these qualification that is on our Green List, or Qualifications Eligible for a Post Study Work Visa List) then you can only support:
• visitor visas for your partner and dependent children, and
• a work visa for your partner
So, you see that you cannot support your dependent children’s student visa if you are not a PhD student or any of the other conditions. But there is a way you can still bring your dependent children on a student visa, however you will require a member of your family. And that person is your spouse.
If your partner applies for a work visa as the partner of a student, then they could support student visas for your children. Here’s what it will look like,
• you apply for a student visa.
• your partner applies for a work visa, as the partner of a student
• your children apply for student visas as dependent children of your partner (who has a work visa).
Hahaha, it sounds complex, but it really isn’t. All you need is to get your partner on board and willing to move, which…. could be the hardest part of all of this.
If you’re studying for any other qualification outside the ones listed, you can only support visitor visas for your family.
